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Eagles' problems hasten playoff elimination

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Mark Sanchez (3) looks for an open man to throw to during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Redskins in Landover, Md., on Saturday.(Photo: ALEX BRANDON/AP)

LANDOVER, Md. – The demise was so quick, so sudden that it was hard for the Eagles to fathom that in a span of three weeks, they will have gone from first place in the NFC East to packing up their lockers and going home for the winter after their next game.

"That's how fast it happens," running back LeSean McCoy said. "I mean, just a couple of weeks ago, I was planning on the playoffs, and who we were going to be playing, and those types of things."

Instead, McCoy and the rest of his teammates will be planning for an earlier-than-expected offseason, which will begin after their game Sunday against the Giants.

That's the result of this three-game losing streak after their 27-24 loss to Washington on Saturday. Yet there were issues even when the Eagles were 9-3 after beating the Cowboys in Dallas on Thanksgiving Day.

Back then, the Eagles were able to mask many of them with a defense and special teams unit that accounted for 10 touchdowns.

Some of them proved to be the difference in the game, like Chris Polk's 102-yard return in a three-point win over Washington in September or Cedric Thornton's fumble return in a six-point win over St. Louis. And some of them gave the Eagles a chance to win a game they were completely dominated in, such as a 5-point loss to San Francisco where all of their points came via defense and special teams.

Eventually, the weaknesses were exposed. The loss to Washington on Saturday was just a microcosm.

The cornerback play was atrocious as former Eagles' wide receiver DeSean Jackson burned Bradley Fletcher for long passes of 51 and 55 yards before Fletcher was mercifully pulled in the fourth quarter. This came after Fletcher yielded three touchdowns to Dez Bryant the week before in the Eagles' 38-27 loss to Dallas.

But it would be foolish to blame everything on Fletcher. Defensive coordinator Bill Davis often left him one-on-one against top receivers and kept him on the same side of the field. So whenever a team needed a big play, it would just line its top receiver up on Fletcher's side and throw deep.

"They're very naive and they play how they play, so they [couldn't] care less who's out there or who's at wide receiver," Jackson said. "That's the Philadelphia Eagles' defense. I've been there a lot of years and witnessed a lot of players – wide receivers, tight ends – get off some huge games on them."

This debacle should create an offseason of change throughout the defense as the Eagles will have to upgrade at cornerback and saftey, replace outside linebacker Trent Cole, who's 32, and maybe even inside linebacker DeMeco Ryans, who was lost for the season with a ruptured Achilles.

"We haven't gotten better the last few weeks," defensive coordinator Bill Davis said. "We've got a lot of work to do. We've got to take a hard look at all positions and make sure we're putting guys in the right position to win. ... We're going to look at all of it."

But there is so much more.

The quarterbacks committed too many turnovers. Against Washington, Mark Sanchez lost a fumble and threw a game-killing interception. In all, Sanchez and Nick Foles have combined for 26 turnovers this season, 13 by each.

The penalties were a factor, too. The Eagles committed 13 for 102 yards Saturday. Three of them were personal foul penalties by the defense while Washington was inside the Eagles' 20, yielding automatic first downs. Two of them came after the Eagles made third-down stops.

There were examples of this all throughout the season. Yet Eagles coach Chip Kelly bristled at the suggestion that his team is undisciplined.

"You aren't going to win a football game that way," Kelly said. "We left [the defense] on the field too long on third downs when we got penalties to extend drives you feel like you had to stop. Thirteen penalties and two turnovers are not going to win football games in this league."

Fittingly, the final penalty came on the first play after Sanchez's interception with 1:31 left in a tie game. Robert Griffin III completed a pass to Pierre Garcon that went for 23 yards, and 15 yards was tacked on when Vinny Curry was called for roughing the passer. That gave Washington a first down at the Eagles' 20.

At that point, the game-winning field goal was a formality. Soon after, the Eagles' playoff elimination was a formality, too.